Can lid seal ring



Oct. 21, 1958. J. c. DE SHAZOR, JR 2,857,075;

CAN LID SEAL RING Y a r Filed June 11, 1956 United States Patent" f CAN L11) SEAL RING James C. De Shazor, Jr., Portland, Oreg., assignor to Columbia Basin Plastics Company, Portland, Oreg.

Application June 11,1956, Serial No. 590,676 1 Claim. (Cl. 220-46) This invention relates generally to metal cans in which foodstuff or similar perishable material may be stored and merchandisecl.

At the point of use cans of this type are usually opened with a wall mounted, crank operated, can opener of one of the several well designed types now generally available on the market.

One type of opener uses a knife to slice the lid from the .can and in doing so slices the lid on a diameter almost equal to the inside diameter of the can so that the removed portion of the lid has a diameter nearly as large as the inside diameter of the can.

Other well known and popularly used can openers use a cutter wheelto press through the can lid and roll out the lid from the can on a diameter somewhat smaller than the inside diameter of the can.

All of the acceptable can openers press the vestige o the lid, left after the'center is removed, down flat and tion of another lidded can with which the present invention may be practiced.

Fig. 8 is a fragmental view in diametral vertical section of another form of the seal ring of this invention used temporarily to relid a can opened with another form of opener.

Fig. 9 is a fragmental view in diametral vertical section of another lidded can with which the present invention may be practiced.

Fig. 10 is a fragmental view in diametral vertical section of another form of the seal ring of this invention used temporarily to relid a can opened with another make of. opener.

' "Like reference numerals refer to like parts in the several figures of the drawing.

Referring now to the drawing in Figures 1, 5, 7 and 9 are shown four lidded cans 11 of the same size and construction each lidded in the usual manner with the same form of lid sealed thereto as at 12.

With one form of opener the can of Fig. 1 is sliced circumferentially on a radius 21 thus removing a disk 22 as shown in Fig. 3. invention as shown in Figures 3 and 4 is shown to be formed of a somewhat stiff flexible molded plastic material to have a generally cylindrical outer surface of an outside diameter fitting the inside of can 11. Preferably the outer surface of ring 31 at its bottom diverges inwardly to terminate at an annular edge 32 sufficiently smooth to form a smooth rigid inner top edge over which the contents of the can can be removed without hindrance. The opened can forms a splendid container but previous to the provision of the present device no satisfactory cover had been provided to make the can temporarily reusable.

More particularly the principal object of this invention is to provide for the severed can lid of such an opened can a seal ring into which the can lid can be easily pressedto form therewith a temporary can lid adapted sealably to be applied to the can.

A second object is to provide such a can lid seal ring adapted for use with a particular size of can after the can lid has been cut therefrom by any one of several can Fig. 3 is a fragmental view in diametral vertical section of one form of the seal ring of this invention used temporarily to relid a can opened with a particular form of opener.

Fig. 4 is a fragmental top'plan view of the relidded can of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a fragmental view in diametral vertical section of another lidded can with which the present invention may be practiced.

Fig. 6 is a fragmental view in diametral vertical section of another form of the seal ring of this invention used temporarily to relid a can opened with another form of opener.

Fig. 7 is a fragmental view in diametral vertical secsmaller in diameter than the inside of the can to pilot the lower end of the seal ring into the can.

At its upper outer side ring 31 is expanded toform a grip ring 33 having the triple purpose of limiting the entrance of ring 31 into can 11, providing a finger grip for removing ring 31 from can 11, and providing ring 31 with an inside diameter 21 as large as the inside diameter of can 11 to receive the largest size of lid disk 22.

On the inner side seal ring 31 is sealed to have an upwardly expanding somewhat conical shape with a plurality of annular rows of bumps 34 spaced apart and spacedabove an annular lower rim 35. Rim 35 and the lower row of bumps 34 are adapted to receive and hold between them a lid disk of small diameter in their raceway 36. In the annular space 37 defined by the lower two rows of bumps 34 an intermediate diameter lid disk can be accommodated, while in the annular space 38 defined by the upper two rows of bumps 34 a large diameter disk 22 can be held as shown.

Figures 6, 8 and 10 show three alternate shapes of the many in which the seal ring of this invention may be made satisfactorily to practice my invention. The difference between the several forms of seal rings shown is largely a matter of preferred shape for the inside surface.

In Fig. 6 the internal surface of the seal ring 61 is shown to a stack of annular depressions 64 of triangular section or in other Words a section through the ring as shown at the right hand side of Fig. 6 shows a sawtooth profile. This particular form of seal ring splits the total possible variation in diameter of lid disk to be accommodated into five ranges of which, in the drawing, the center range is shown to include the particular can lid 26 cut to a radius indicated by the dash line 25 in Figs. 5 and 6.

Similarly in Fig. 8 three rectangular annular grooves 84 are shown sunk into the inner surface of ring 81 with the lower groove occupied by lid disk 28 cut to a radius indicated by the dash line 27 in Figs. 7 and 8..

And in Fig. 10 ring 101 is seen to be formed with an annularly corrugated side wall 102 forming three stacked annular recesses 104 with the center recess occupied by lid disk30 cut to a radius indicated by the dash line 29 in Figs. 9 and 10.

It is noted that as ring 31 at its upper end is finished Patented Oct. 21, 1958 One form of seal ring 31 of this r 3 with grip ring 33 rings 61, 81 and 101 respectively are finished at their upper ends with grip rings 63, 83 and 103. The lid seal of this invention can be made with any of the shapes shown or with other shapes adapted to the same purpose without departing from the spirit thereof.

In operation the lid disk cut from the can is pushed from the top into the lid seal ring until it is in the inner groove of the seal ring which best accommodates the disk and then the seal ring with the lid disk therein is pushed like a cork into the top of the can to seal the contents therein. 7

Having thus recited some of the objects of my invention, illustrated and described several forms in which my invention may be practiced and explained the operation thereof, I claim:

The combination of a sheet metal can having a cylindrical side wall with sheet metal end members double seamed to the top and bottom ends of said body, the top end of said can having a central disk portion of slightly smaller diameter than the cylindrical body removed therefrom and the adjacent portion of said end being rolled into contact with the adjacent body wall; a reclosure for the top end of said container comprising a seal ring of resilient material formed with a side band having an outer surface mating with the inner top cylindrical surface of said can and a grip ring of larger diam-- eter than said can terminating said side band at its outer end, the inner surface of said side band being of generally decreasing diameter downwardly and interrupted by a plurality of axially spaced coaxial annular grooves of regularly decreasing diameter, the varying diameters of said grooves being for the purpose of having at least one groove of the proper diameter to mate with the disk portion removed from the can and a sheet metal disc removably fitting within said one groove.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,177,438 Miller Oct. 24, 1939 2,346,495 Lingel Apr. 11, 1944 20 2,523,639 Tucker Sept. 26, 1950 FOREIGN PATENTS 935,899 Germany Decfl, 1955 

